Tea Party responds to Scott on Medicaid

In August, Gov. Rick Scott received a standing ovation from a crowd of Tea Party activists gathered at a three-day conference in Jacksonville.

After Scott’s reversal this week on the expansion of Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act — known as Obamacare to the Tea Party crowd — you would have to wonder if he would need additional security to attend a similar gathering.

Eric Erickson, the Macon, Ga., lawyer who founded RedState.com, the popular website for conservative opinion makers that sponsored the Jacksonville conference, left no doubt in his reaction this week to Scott’s policy shift. He called it “a sad day for conservatives.”

“I was one of the few national conservatives to support Gov. Scott in 2010 during his primary,” Erickson wrote on his blog this week. “He is a fundamentally great person. I really like him. He has been a friend to this site.

“But I am terribly disappointed in his decision to expand Medicaid in Florida.”

Erickson noted Scott, a former hospital company executive, was one of chief critics of Obamacare and even before it “Hillarycare,” a reference to the unsuccessful efforts by the Clinton administration to pass health care reforms.

Erickson attributed Scott’s change of heart to his re-election bid and his effort to turn around dismal popularity numbers with voters.

“When politicians do what they feel they must to get re-elected instead of doing what they know is right, they often lose re-election and, even when they do not, lose their way,” Erickson said.

Erickson did concede Scott a few points, including winning approval from the federal government to move most Medicaid recipients into a private managed-care system, which Erickson said “is actually a huge deal.” He also gave Scott credit for limiting the expansion to three years.

But he also contrasted Scott with three governors who remain Tea Party favorites and who have thus far opposed Medicaid expansion in their states — Rick Perry of Texas, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

In fact, Erickson lifted a quote out of Haley’s recent state of the state address to her Legislature:

“As long as I am governor, South Carolina will not implement the public policy disaster that is Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion,” Haley said.

It’s not a line you will find in Scott’s upcoming state of the state address to the Florida Legislature on March 5.

<B>One ‘no’ kills the deal</b>

Although Gov. Scott has said yes to Medicaid expansion in Florida, the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate will make the ultimate decision on the issue.

Both chambers have special committees looking at the impact of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Senate panel already has reached a consensus on deciding against creating a state insurance exchange.

And both panels are expected to have a decision on Medicaid expansion early in the annual session that begins next month.

In an interview this week, Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, summed up the situation involving the governor, Senate and House succinctly.

“To get to yes there has to be three yeses,” Gaetz said. “To get to no, you only need one ‘no.’ ”

Scott has given his “yes.” Gaetz said the Senate is waiting for the PPACA panel’s recommendation before reaching a consensus, although the option seems to be open. The House also is waiting for its committee’s recommendation, although its leaders, including House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, have been much more skeptical in their public statements.

“If the House says no, it’s over,” Gaetz said.

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Medicaid. Recipients and providers of the federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled could see a significant boost in coverage and funding if the Legislature backs Gov. Rick Scott’s call for expanding Medicaid to cover nearly 1 million more Floridians under the federal health care law.

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Tea Party. The limited-government political movement received another blow as one of their former champions — Rick Scott — reversed his position on Obamacare, embracing the law’s provision that would allow the state to substantially expand its Medicaid program.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians access to health care,” Gov. Rick Scott said in announcing his support for the expansion of Medicaid in Florida under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Last modified: February 22, 2013
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